The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 Training

September 13, 2024

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 Training

For The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 Training it is back to building up by adding more volume and more intensity once again. I can't explain why, but on a cutback week, like week 5, I tend to feel pretty lousy. Not physically, but mentally, for some strange reason, I find it hard. I have had other athletes that I coach experience something similar. Maybe not the exact same as me, but something is just off. But, the good news is in week 6, there will be some really tough speed endurance sessions. I'm looking forward to the challenging sessions coming up.

I have broken down my upcoming 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 into the training sessions and what the goals are for the week.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 Running Sessions

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 running sessions has 7 days of workouts. No rest days this week, but Monday and Friday are light days. The total volume for this week is 63 miles (103 km). This week is all about speed endurance with Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday focussing on holding a pace for extended periods.

Monday: 4 miles (7k) easy effort run

After a cutback week and a good long Sunday run, this one is to get some recovery miles in the legs. It is also to build back the volume into this week without over taxing my body with additional intensity.

Tuesday: 8 miles (13k) steady effort run

Tuesday's 8 miler (13k) is going to be run at a steady effort. As I mentioned before, steady means comfortably hard. This will be a good workout and I will likely push the pace on in the last couple of miles.

Wednesday: 10 miles (16k) easy effort run

Once again, throwing volume into the mix but with a harder session on Thursday, it's an easy effort. Easy effort runs are the perfect opportunity to work on form and technique.

Thursday: 10 mile (16k) - CoP run
This 10 miler (16k) Change of Pace run is split in two. The first 5 miles (8k) run at 7:40/mile pace (4:45/km) and the second 5 mile (8k) being run at 6:40/mile (4:05/km). The goal is to finish strong.

Friday: 3 miles (5k) easy social run
My usual Friday morning Social run is something I'll be keeping on a weekly basis, and this week I will not be extending that to an evening run. This is another light day this week.

Saturday: 9 miles (15k) CoP run
I will execute this session as follows:
3 miles (5k) easy - 3 miles (5k) steady - 3 miles (5k) easy

After racing the previous Saturday, this will be a steady effort, not hard.

Sunday: 19 miles (31k) CoP run

This Sunday is my first true Sunday speed endurance effort. It is a total of 19 miles and split into 1 mile (2k) easy, 8 miles (13k) at sub-7 minute mile (sub 4:20/km) pace. This is followed by 10 miles (16k) easy.

Strength & Conditioning

For the 2:49 Project Week 6 training strength and conditioning routine I am maintaining 40 reps per exercise.

40 reps push ups
40 crunches
90 second plank
40 squats
40 dead bugs (each side)
40 bicycle crunches (each side)
40 lunges

I repeat these until I hit 20 minutes. This is almost always 2 sets of each exercise. I then finish the routine off with:

40 reps close hands push ups

Yoga

I perform a 20 minute yoga for runners routine from YouTube 3 days per week. This is a very welcome stretch after all the running during the week.

A Few Minutes With the Coach

Each week I will take the opportunity to discuss something that strikes me during the course of the training block. Hopefully, we can all take something away from this section based on my experience or from those I coach. This week it is about racing during a training block.

Racing During a Training Block

Many runners enjoy racing during their marathon training blocks. As a coach I have to be careful when my athletes want to race other events when the target race is important to them. There are definite benefits to racing, however, there must be a word of caution as well. It is not always a great idea.

What are the Benefits of Racing During Marathon Training?

There are benefits to racing at anytime. For one thing, we always run faster, or at least put in more effort, during a race than we do during a training session. There is more adrenaline, excitement and an overall buzz during a race that just isn't there in a training run. That can offer a great boost to performance. This will in turn help create a better adaptation than a training speed session could.

Another benefit is it gives us an opportunity to perfect some of the finer points that we need to work on for our target marathon. This could be testing our running kit, working on nutrition, running form or even our racing mindset. Anything we can do that replicates our target race will have a positive impact come crunch time.

What are the Pitfalls to Watch Out For?

One of the most important things to remember is that we are in the middle of a marathon training block. Our bodies are going to be tired, worn down a little bit. We haven't tapered for this because it is not the important race. With that said, we need to be careful with reading too much into the results of such a race.

I always tell my athletes that if we are hitting personal records (personal bests) during this time, then perhaps our marathon goal time isn't ambitious enough. Our goal in these mid-training block races should be to work on race day variables as mentioned above.

It is when we use these races as a guide for how we will do on marathon day that we get into trouble. This is the biggest reason I don't like my athletes to race, particularly as we get into the last month of training. It can have the completely opposite effect on confidence and positivity than we are looking for. If the race is in this last month, then It should almost certainly not be an indicator for how the marathon will go. There hasn't been a taper and our body hasn't had the opportunity to get the recovery required for that target race peak.

So, in summary, it can be useful to incorporate races in the marathon training block, but as a method to induce further adaptation or to practise race day tactics and strategies. As long as running my best race isn't the goal, then I'm all for it. I don't let the result shake my confidence for my target race and neither should you.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 Training Summary

In summary, the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 6 Training is back to building up the volume and ramping up the intensity. Yoga and sports massage will be my friend this week and I will do my best to do both this week. I'm interested to see how the Sunday splits will go. This is the kind of training I missed for my Manchester Marathon back in April. I will not make that mistake in Valencia. My biggest concern is hitting specific paces in warmer weather. I honestly did not know the heat took such a toll on my pace. I'll explain in more detail in the video, but it is a question I have. I am now, believe it or not, looking forward to cooler temperatures in the upcoming weeks.

Where Can You Follow the 2:49 Marathon Project?

I accidentally pushed out the week 1 video on the wrong YouTube channel. The correct channel is this one here: JMRunCoach

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